Butland, fresh from being named in Gareth Southgate's latest Three Lions squad, pulled off vital saves from Huddlestone and Harry Wilson to thwart the Rams in Wednesday night's Championship clash at Pride Park Stadium.

Huddlestone almost gave Derby a seventh-minute lead, only to see his sweetly-struck volley brilliantly kept out by the Potters' number one.

"Butland played well, to be fair," said the Derby midfielder. "The saves from myself and Harry Wilson in the first half shows why he has been in and around the England squad for a few years.

Tom Huddlestone takes a strike for Derby County against Stoke (Image: Andy Clarke)

"I thought mine was going in, for sure. I caught it well and when I looked up, the keeper was a bit unsighted, but he still managed to get a strong hand to it.

"There are not too many goalies in this league who could have got such a strong hand to it. He played well and probably earned them the point."

Butland, who had a brief loan spell at Derby a few years back, later blocked Wilson's header as he followed up after Duane Holmes' shot had come back off the post.

Wilson was also denied by the woodwork from a free kick in stoppage time at the end of the game.

Stoke had hit the woodwork, too, earlier, when James McClean's header smacked against the upright - but it was Derby who looked the more likely to win it overall.

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"You get to a certain point and you think we've got to keep pushing, obviously, in case we can nick a late one," Huddlestone added.

"But on the other hand, Stoke have players at the top end of the pitch who are always going to cause you problems and we didn't want to get done by a sucker punch like we did at home to Millwall a couple of weeks ago.